Betwixt them both their own By-ends perfue,
By both much trufted, but to neither true;
From Poft to Poft they unfufpected flide,
And in one Station never long refide;
But in due Seafon, to oblige the State,
Make way for Favorites of a later Date.
Some forward Tools, who hafty to afpire,
Will yield to all their Monarch can defire;
And for unlawful Deeds obfcurely done,
Are quickly rais'd and oft defpis'd as foon:
Whilst thofe more cunning fhift from Place to Place,
And still steer clear of Danger and Disgrace;
Yet glean and plunder fafely as they move,
And raise their Minions thro Design not Love;
Who stand as Skreens that interrupt the Light,
To hide their Patrons Ills from human fight;
Labouring where e'er they come to bellow forth
My Lord's great Honour, Honefty and Worth;
What mighty things for th' Publick he has done,
What Univerfal Love his Deeds have won:
Whilft those that try my worthy Patriot find,
He's Courtier true, all Words,and those but Wind.
Such Lords as thefe the hoodwink'd Nation fleece,
As if the People were their Sheep or Geefe,
And they the Foxes that the Flocks betray,
Making th' unthinking Innocents their Prey.
These are the Men the Common-wealth abuse,
Plunder its Treafure, and their Power misuse;
To private Ends pervert their Publick Truft,
And for bafe Bribes fubmit to things unjuft.
By their vaft Fortunes we are Debtors made,
Of Sums too mighty to be nam'd or paid;
Whofe growing Int'reft does fo fast accrue,
The Nation scarce can raife it when its due.
By what ftrange Measures must we then prepare,
New Sinews for a fresh more vig'rous War;
Since Debts we owe are too profufely large,
Without the People's Murmurs to discharge?
Besides, if we project no wiser ways
T' apply and husband what the Publick raife,
How should old Debts be otherwise than due,
Since ev'ry Tax we raise begets a New?
What Man, who with the Eye of Reason fees,
Can juftify Enormities like these?
Or what blind partial Ideot can plead,
That fuch Misconducts no Inspection need?
What Tool, but he who does his Country hate,
Would labour fuch Faults to extenuate;
Or ftrenuously oppofe what's clear as Light,
To make fuch dark Intrigues of State look white?
What clofe clandeftine Service can atone
For Ills like these to the whole Publick done?
Or who but Guilty Favorites make Delays
Of common Justice by uncommon Ways;
Whofe very Friends their Crimes with Horror fee,
Thro the dim Glafs of Partiality:
Tho pleas'd and proud their Leaders are so great,
And bufy Actors on the ftage of State,
Yet the whole Faction fome Concern muft feel,
To fee full Sharers play their Parts fo ill;
Having no more in their Behalf to fay,
But only plead th' Advantage of Delay,
Believing they have manag'd Things awry,
And done what Justice cannot justify;
Objecting, that alone the great Affair,
Relating to the new Impending War,
Does at this Juncture juft Precedence claim,
And ought to be the Senate's only Aim ;
Whilft fuch fmall Trifles unredreft should ly,
Or be at least defer'd till by and by,
And all fuch petty Faults neglected be,
Till fome more proper Opportunity.
Wholefom Advice, and wifely urg'd by thofe, Who fide for Intereft with Domestick Foes, And frightning us with Foreign Ills to come, Wound fain encourage thofe we find at home. Shame on Forbearance! fhall the Commonweal Endure with Patience, Mischiefs that they feel, And arm against thofe Ills we only fear, Neglecting prefent Wrongs the Publick bear? If Men in Truft fhall fink the Nation's Aid,? And common Juftice by a Trick evade : If fuch a Latitude as this we give,
How can our Arms fucceed, or Nation thrive?
What is't that made our Funds deficient prove,
And caus'd those Debts we cannot yet remove?
What is't of late prevented our Success,
And made France greater and old England lefs?
Why is the payment of the Fleet delay'd,
And why the Transport-Service yet unpay'd?
Why is the Army in fuch large Arrears,
That ferv'd us in the late fucceflefs Wars?
Who rais'd Estates miraculously foon,
And left these National Concerns undone?
Why not those Perfons from their Posts remov❜d,
By the last Senate blam'd, and disapprov'd?
And why not, if known guilty of a Fault,
Without delay to common Juftice brought?
Neglect of fuch Mifguidance in the State,
Brought Rome to Ruin which was once fo great;
Her publick Treasure being misapply'd,
Forc'd her to stoop to thofe fhe once defy'd.
If fuch Abuses are excus'd fo long,
Till Common Practice justifies the Wrong;
That careless Nation does it felf betray,
Laying a Ground-work for its own Decay;
And like the Pellican expends its Blood,
To fledg a greedy, worthless, callow Brood.
Yet from fome partial Penman have we heard,
Errors fo fmall deserve not our Regard;
Or else that we fuch Trifles fhould defer,
To be the last dull Siftings of our Care.
In the late Wars they cannot but allow,
That France was nothing near so strong as now;
The fatal Union which fo much we dread,
Tho long ago foreseen, was then unmade:
And wealthy England, when the War began,
More rich in Coin, and numerous in Men,
With Voice united cry'd, To Arms, To Arms,
And every Pulse beat nothing but Alarms.
The People's Hearts and Purfes open lay,
Some fond to fight and others free to pay;
The forward Rabble needed no Decoy,
But freely enter'd, and embark'd with Joy.
Each tipling Hero o'er his Belch would fwear,
He'd have a Vineyard of his own next Year;
And doubted not but fo far to advance,
That in a Cup of Soldier's Cordial Nants,
He'd drink to England in the midst of France.
Strong forefight of Succefs the Nation fed,
And mighty hopes the Common People led;
The Kingdom rich, and ev'ry Native free
To hazard all to curb French Tyranny.
Thus wanting neither Mony, Men nor Will,
The faithlefs French to conquer, or to kill;
But all things made a kind aufpicious fhow,
And look'd more fortunate by much than now:
Threat'ning our mifcall'd cow'rdly Enemy,
With fad Destruction both by Land and Sea.
What then obstructed the Designs we laid,
That our great Hopes no better Iffue had?
What hinder'd us we humbl'd not our Foes,
Nor then effected what we now propofe?
When the whole Kingdom richer was by far,
And ev'ry Genius well inclin'd to War.
What then obftructed our defir'd Success, But fome Misconducts we may now redress? What made our long expenfive Wars prove vain, And leave us worse than if they'd ne'er began? What made us give the Gallick Tyrant Breath, To gain his Ends by Ferdinando's Death? Thus by a Peace mif-tim'd we footh'd our Fate, And made th' afpiring Foe just twice as Great. What made our Taxes, tho profufely large, Always too flender to fupport the Charge?
Such worthless Numbers gleaning from our Funds Private Rewards, the Publick Int'reft wounds. Some climb to Posts of Profit misbestow'd, And, hafty to be Great, grow rich by Fraud: Others by begging private Boons and Grants, Swallow what should relieve the Nation's Wants. Thus from fmall Merits make a wondrous Rife, And become huge State-Monsters in a trice: Hatch'd up and fledg'd beneath a bounteous Throne, From callow Wrens to mighty Eagles grown: Having no Herald their Deserts to prove, But the large Badges of Imperial Love. Such Men as these the Nation's Wealth ingrofs, Gaining vast Riches by the Kingdom's Lofs.
And fhall we now a War like Madmen make, With these Domestick Dangers at our Back? Shall mercenary Tools in Truft remain, To cheat the Kingdom o'er and o'er again ? Muft we run headlong to a dubious War, To make rich Minions, and our Country poor? And ne'er look back on thofe Enormities That caus'd our Debts, and our Deficiencies? Which did our Arms obftruct, our Measures break, When we were stronger, and our Foes more weak? Pray, What Succefs can we in War expect, If we thofe Ills as frivolous reject,
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